In terms of singleplayer and multiplayer games, while Netflix includes both in its mobile game library, things look to be skewed to the former. But for a select few in the latter category, it looks like the streaming giant is testing what is referred to as “game handles”. This suggests social or multiplayer components to said games.
TechCrunch cites developer Steve Moser who claims that Netflix started allowing users to create unique game handles for some games. The list includes the likes of Into The Breach, Bowling Ballers, Mahjong Solitaire and Heads Up!, among others. The report also noted that the streaming app had references to features like inviting others to play with you, as well as a ranking leaderboard.
Moser quotes two lines from the Netflix app which days that game handles are in place so that people playing will not be seeing the true names and profile icons of others. Which sounds about right for anyone with accounts on PSN, Steam, Epic Games and Ubisoft Connect, among many others. Naturally, this game handle will also be the one used to denote who is dominating in a particular game’s leaderboard.
On one hand, this sounds like a very basic feature for multiplayer games that is only now being added by Netflix to its own mobile games library. And even then, not to all of its multiplayer games. To say that the company is way behind on basic features wouldn’t be too unfair.
This is in the same vein that the Epic Games Store was also very behind in its early days for missing things like a shopping cart, which only got added during the tail end of last year. But for Netflix, the company may have little reason to rush even basic features if less than one percent of its subscribers are playing games via their subscriptions.
(Source: Steve Moser via TechCrunch)
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